Mail box



1 28, 1936. G. E. BRANDT ET AL MAIL BOX Filed Aug. 6, 1955 Patented Apr. 28, 1936 PATENT OFFICE BOX George. E. Brandt and Leo E- Kraft, Unadilla, Nebr.

Application August 6, 1935, Serial No.34,9565

2 Claims.

This inventionrelate's" to a mail box of the type used for rural delivery, and one object of the invention is to provide a mail box having an improved door construction whereby either the main door or an auxiliary door may be opened when placing mail in the box. This not only makes opening of the main door unnecessary and thus eliminates likelihood of the main door not being properly closed and rain or snow entering the mail box, but also permits the driver of the mail car to drive the car close enough to the mail box to open the small door and insert or remove mail without leaving the car.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved mail box.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken vertically through the front end portion of the box along the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken horizontally through the forward end portion of the box along the line 33 of Figure 1.

The mail box, which is indicated in general by the numeral I, has a housing or body open at its front, and at its front end carrying a main door 2 which is hinged at its lower end to the bottom of the mail box, as shown at 3, so that it may be swung vertically from a raised or closed position in which it bears against inturned flanges 4 at sides of the mail box, to a lowered or opened position in which it extends outwardly from the mail box. A handle 5 is carried by the door in order that it may be easily opened and closed and when closed it is held in the closed position by a latch 6 formed from a strip of resilient metal which is riveted or otherwise firmly secured upon the top of the box and at its free forward end is bent to provide a depending bill 1 which passes through an opening 8 formed in the box and engages the door, as shown in Figure 2. By having the upper portion or top of the box projected beyond the closed door, a shield will be formed which serves very effectively to prevent rain or snow from entering the mail box between the top of the box and the upper end of the main door.

If the main door is opened in order to place mail in the box and not properly closed, rain or snow will enter the mail box and damage the mail placed therein. It has also been found that when a door hinged at its bottom is opened, it swings outwardly from the box to such an extent that the driver of a mail car must stop his;

car at such a distance from the mail box that he cannot conveniently reach the handle of the door in order to open the door and, therefore, must get out of the car when delivering or collecting mail. It has also been found that even if the driver of the mail car is able to reach the handle of the door without getting out of the car, he is liable to improperly close the door and also that the door is liable to slip from his grasp and drop to a depending position, thus making it necessary to get out of the mail car in order to close the door. In order to overcome these objections, there has been provided an auxiliary door 9 which is hinged to the main door, as shown at ID, for opening and closing movement in a horizontal plane. This auxiliary door closes an opening formed in the lower portion of the main door and has its marginal portions bent to form a channel or recess II, and portions of the main door about the opening formed therein are rolled outwardly about a reinforcing wire l2 to form a marginal bead l3 which seats in the channel or recess II when the auxiliary door is closed. Therefore, a tight fit will be established between the marginal portions of the auxiliary door and the portions of the main door about the opening formed therein when the auxiliary door is closed, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and rain and snow will be prevented from entering the mail box through the opening closed by the auxiliary door. A clip [4 of resilient metal having an outstanding tongue I5 is secured to the auxiliary door about the marginal channel at the free side of this door and by frictional engagement with the outstanding tongue l6 of a keeper I! carried by the main door will prevent the auxiliary door from accidentally swinging outwardly to an open position after it has been closed. Alined openings l1 may be formed in the outstanding tongues of the clip and keeper in order that a pin or other suitable fastener may be passed through these tongues and thus positively prevent accidental opening of the auxiliary door. As the auxiliary door is a great deal smaller than the main door, the driver of the mail car may stop his car quite close to the mail box where he can easily reach and open the auxiliary door for placing letters in the mail box. It should also be noted that since the auxiliary door swings horizontally into and out of a closed position, the door may be opened and mail placed in the box without holding the door Wide open and the door I then easily closed. If the auxiliary door is released after being opened, it will remain in the opened position without swinging downwardly to a depending position and may be very easily closed.

Having thus described the invention, what'is claimed as new is: 1 V

1. A mail box open at one end, a maindoor o for closing the open end ofthe mail box mounted for movement into and out of position to close the open end of the mail box, the main door having an opening formed in its lower portion and portions of the doorabout the opening being rolled outwardly to form an outstanding bead a tight joint between the main door and the auxiliary door. a

2,038,823 o t. V

2. A mail box open at one end, a main door for r closing the open end of the mailbox hinged for vertical swinging movement into and out of a closed position, the 'mail box having inturned flanges alongits sides for abutting engagement with side portions of the door to limit closing movement of the door, the upper portion of the at its lower end to the bottom of the mail box mail box being extended to form 'a. shield projecting beyond the closed door, a latch carried by the mail box for engaging the door and re- 7 leasably holding the door closed, said door having an opening formed therein, an auxiliary door connected with the main door for swinging move- 7 ment horizontally into and out of closing ,relation to the opening in the main door, a resilient clip carried by the auxiliary door, and a keeper carried by the main door for engagement by said clip to releasably hold the auxiliary door closed.

GEORGE E. BRANDT. LEO E. KRAFT. a 

